USDA Poultry Slaughter Inspection Rule Timeline of Events

1957 – Regulations for poultry slaughter inspection adopted.

1985 – – National Academy of Sciences report, “Meat and Poultry Inspection: The Scientific Basis of the Nation’s Program,” recommended that USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) focus on pathogenic organisms and require that all official establishments operate under a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system for control of pathogens and other safety hazards.

1987 – Second National Academy of Sciences report, “Poultry Inspection: The Basis for a Risk Assessment Approach,” concluded, “that the present system of inspection does very little to protect the public against microbial hazards in young chickens.”

1994  – Government Accountability Office report, “Meat Safety: Inspection System’s Ability to Detect Harmful Bacteria Remains Limited,” stated the resource problem clearly. “Labor-intensive inspection procedures and inflexible inspection frequencies drain resources that could be put to better use in a risk-based system. To better protect the public from foodborne illnesses, FSIS must move to a modern, scientific, risk-based inspection system.”

1996 – FSIS Issues Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Rule. HACCP is a method of identifying potential problem areas and maintaining written plans for managing the risks they present.

1997 – FSIS Proposes HACCP-Based Inspection Model Project (HIMP)

1999 – HIMP goes into effect in 20 chicken processing plants, five turkey plants and one pork plant

2012 – January – After collecting data for 13 years, FSIS proposes a modernized Poultry Slaughter Inspection system, a voluntary expansion of the HIMP pilot.

2012 – April – FSIS extends comment period on proposed rule

2012 – May 29 – Comment period closes

2014 – July 10 – USDA sends final rule to OMB for review

2014 – July 31 – OMB clears rule and sends final to USDA.

2014 – August 21 – USDA publishes final rule in the Federal Register

2017 – September 1 — National Chicken Council (NCC) petitioned USDA-FSIS to implement a waiver system to permit young chicken slaughter establishments participating in the NPIS and the Salmonella Initiative Program (SIP) to operate without the line speed limitations imposed under the NPIS.

2017 – October 13 – USDA-FSIS announced a 60-day period for the public to comment on the chicken industry’s petition to waive line speed restrictions under the New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS).

2017 – December 13 – 60 day USDA-FSIS comment period closes.